We were looking to try something different when we received an email recently from one of our readers about a place serving submarine sandwiches with an interesting twist.

Four over four years Subtown has been selling Lebanese-style subs from its Walkley Road location. The restaurant sells over 20 different sandwiches and platters to choose from, all of which are made fresh daily.

Now, if you’re like me and had no idea what Lebanese subs were, you’re in for a treat. Hussein, who runs the store with his brother, told me that there are two types of street food that reign supreme in Lebanon—shawarma and subs. The first we’re quite familiar with here in the Shawarma Capital of Canada. However, Hussein and his family are now trying to introduce the capital region to the Lebanese subs that are ubiquitous back in Lebanon.

We visited the restaurant on Monday evening. Bright red walls greet you as you enter, with sumptuous looking deserts behind a glass counter to your left. In front of you is a glass container with a several toppings, including spiced beef, chicken and shrimp. A box of roasted potatoes sits next to them. There is a dining area adjacent to the kitchen with a TV playing the news in Arabic.

Hussein welcomes us and tells us some of the quintessential Lebanese meals on the menu are only available for breakfast, including ras asfour—a tangy meatball stew—and fava bean stew. Breakfast is available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day except Tuesday. Instead, we set our eyes on the sub menu. I ordered the Mexican chicken, and my partner and co-writer of the blog Danielle ordered a taouk chicken.

While preparing our subs, Hussein told us that back in Lebanon the most popular sandwich is the fries sub. (This is available on the menu at Subtown.) As the name implies, this involves a generous portion of French fries sandwiched in toasted bread served with a spread of garlic sauce. Fascinated with this blue-collar dish of the people, we were happy to hear that Danielle’s taouk sub also contained fries. Once heated up on the grill, we took our subs home to eat.

The bread was nice and crispy, still warm from the Subtown grill. It reminded Danielle of her grandmother’s buns served at Thanksgiving. Eating pickles and fries out of a bun was excellent, she said, adding that it "just worked." As for my Mexican sub, I was a big fan of the heat from the hot peppers. The chicken was well cooked and not chewy at all. There was a pop of coriander in each bite that I really enjoyed. Moreover, the garlic sauce was on-point. I can’t state this enough—it is challenging to get the garlic sauce right. Here, the sandwich wasn’t doused in an overwhelming amount of garlic sauce.

Each footlong sub cost us around $15. At those prices—and with such dazzling flavours—we’ll be sure to be back, especially for breakfast.